DE69717379T2 - Multifunction printer with a common bezel for the feed / exit path mechanism and method for its operation - Google Patents

Description

The application relates to European patent applications 96 120 064.9, 94 116 659.7 and 94 116 657.1.

The invention relates to printers and facsimile devices, in particular to printers and facsimile devices combined to form a multifunctional product, and to their operation.

Facsimile devices (i.e. fax machines) have been used for many years to transmit documents containing text or graphic images to a remote destination via a modem, over telephone lines, and via another modem.

In its basic form, a conventional fax machine is used for three separate functions: to send a first document; to receive a second document; and to produce a hard copy of the second document. Of course, the hard copy is not the actual second document, but an exact facsimile of it. Thus, sending the contents of the second document by fax avoids the hassle, expense, and delay of actually delivering the second document to the remote destination.

An enhanced fax machine may also be used to perform additional functions: producing a hard copy printout of the first document and producing a hard copy printout of an aggregate report showing an itemized listing of the date, time and destination for first documents sent from the fax machine.

It follows, therefore, that a fax machine acts primarily as both a sender (i.e., to scan and transmit) and a receiver of documents, and that the fax machine also acts secondarily as a printer (i.e., to print a facsimile of a second document, to print a copy of the scanned first document, or to print an itemized report) and secondarily as a convenience copier (i.e., to scan/print a first document).

Both the basic fax machine and the improved fax machine just described use two separate paper paths. One path is for the first document and typically includes a document feeder tray, a document paper pickup tray /paper drive system, a document scanning station, and a document output. Another path is for printing (originally roll-fed, now sheet-fed) and typically includes a sheet feed tray, a paper sheet pickup sheet drive system, a sheet printing station, and a sheet output. Typically, one chassis was provided to mount the device for feeding sheets to be printed on, and a separate chassis was used to mount the device for feeding the documents to be scanned. This results in a fax machine being a bulky, expensive multifunction device that requires a large number of parts for dual paper handling functions. Each of these separate paper paths requires unique chassis structures. These support structures consist of at least one part per path, but can easily require multiple chassis parts. The disadvantages of the previous solution are primarily related to cost and reliability. In general, cost increases and reliability decreases as the number of parts increases. This cost increase is not only a function of the need to purchase more parts for the product, but is also affected by the costs of designing, specifying, testing, delivering, assembling, and maintaining those parts. Similarly, reliability is not only a function of each new part, which introduces a new possibility of parts being out of specification, but also of failure modes associated with the interactions between the parts as a whole system. Product cost and reliability are of great importance to the customer. The importance of cost is widely understood. The reliability problems exacerbated by the increasing number of parts described above include the following: paper pick-up, paper transport, paper feed accuracy, paper skew, and scanning quality.

Publications EP-A-0 650 843, US-A-5,587,812 and US-A-5,028,957 disclose multifunction printers using a common feed/output path mechanism by providing means for feeding a paper past the printing station and a document past a scanning station.

The object of the invention is to provide a fax machine with a common feed/ejection mechanism for documents passing through a scanning print station and for sheets passing through a print station, while minimizing parts, complexity, bulkiness and cost and increasing reliability.

Another important objective is to provide a multifunction printer/fax machine that is both primarily a printer peripheral for a computer and primarily a fax machine with an integrated, shared paper path and common mechanisms, including a common chassis for scanning documents on one side and producing hard copy printouts on the other side.

A related object is to provide dual feed paths into a common paper pickup with self-actuating switching means for automatically changing from a print mode to a scan mode whenever a document is placed in an automatic document feed tray and for locating the scan-print station under the common paper path. This results in the non-printed side of a sheet and the non-printed side of a document being in a face-to-face arrangement when they are output to a single output tray or bin. This abutting face-to-face relationship prevents smearing of a printed sheet when a document is placed above it in the output tray or bin.

Another object is to provide a multifunction device with a single drive motor for picking individual pages from a stack and moving individual pages across each processing station, for example a scanning station and/or a printing station, in a smaller footprint. A related object is to provide gearing means on a single media chassis for transmitting power to both an automatic document feeder (ADF) or alternatively to an automatic sheet feeder (ASF).

An additional object is to provide the aforementioned multifunction device with a common chassis for integrating an ADF tray, a scanner tray, pickup and drive roller supports, gear train supports, pin door supports, end cover supports, an ASF and an ADF gear train support, and an ADF paper transport device.

In one embodiment of the invention, a single chassis comprises two spaced apart walls which support the document/sheet conveying mechanisms, means for detecting the presence of paper to be scanned, means for receiving the paper and supporting the scanner and ADF, means for easily inserting the ADF, means for supporting a gear for controlling paper pickup and advancement of both paper sheets and paper documents, including photographs and the like, and means for supporting the chute feeding both paper trays and providing structural support for the product door and end covers.

When a common paper path is used for scanning and printing, the media fed through the device can range from a sheet of original sheet stock to severely curled, bent, or otherwise deformed documents. The invention provides provisions for moving the media properly from roll to roll without causing paper jams. Sheet media for printing has typically been in good condition and does not always require a paper path restriction on both sides of the paper. In a type of printer with a translating carriage (i.e., a typical ink jet printer), the space above the paper in the printing region is used to move the print carriage in proximity above the paper. Documents for scanning can be in poor condition and it has been found that a top and bottom restriction is needed along the paper path. Furthermore, the relocation of the scanning station beneath the document and beneath the common paper path provides a face-to-face orientation of the unused sides of the printed sheet and a document when placed in a common output tray or stacker.

The advantages of the invention are based on reduced cost and improved reliability. The cost objective is achieved by integrating functions into a common media chassis rather than by procuring numerous separate parts. Similarly, reliability is improved by integration by avoiding increased individual part variations and part-to-part interaction problems as a system.

The invention is explained in more detail below using exemplary embodiments with reference to a drawing. Here:

Figure 1 is a schematic side view of a presently preferred printer/facsimile embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a functional block diagram of the embodiment according to Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is an isometric view looking downward into an implementation of the embodiment of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary isometric view showing the input feed chutes and a pick-up roll portion of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an isometric front view of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a side view of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary rear view looking upwardly at the feed chutes and the take-up roller section of Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 is a schematic enlargement showing a pick-up roller ready to begin reverse rotation to push partially picked-up sheets backwards into the ASF as a result of inserting a stack of documents into the ADF;

Fig. 9 is a schematic enlargement showing the platen in a released position and showing that all partially picked sheets are ejected from below the pick-up roller into the ASF;

Fig. 10 is a schematic enlargement showing the printing plate returned to an engaged position with the pickup roller and already proceeding to pick up a page from the top of the stack of documents which now partially overlie the stack of printing sheets;

Figure 11 is a schematic side view of an alternative printer/facsimile embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 12 is a functional block diagram of the embodiment of Fig. 11; and

Figure 13 is a functional block diagram of another alternative printer/facsimile embodiment of the invention;

Figure 14 is a more detailed schematic side view of the common paper path of the invention showing the common path with a curled document shown immediately prior to an incipient paper jam at the output roller nip;

Fig. 15 is a schematic side view of the common paper path showing a jam-preventing document guide in a lowered position;

Fig. 16 is a schematic side view of the common paper path showing the document guide in a raised position, allowing the print cartridge to be moved horizontally to a print mode position;

Fig. 17 is a plan view of the print station with the document guide in a scanning mode position;

Fig. 18 is a perspective view of the common chassis according to the invention per se;

Fig. 19 is a perspective view of the common chassis with the fastened elements of the entire assembly;

Fig. 20 is an exploded view thereof;

Fig. 21 is a side view of the common media chassis gearbox showing the connection of the chassis to the print station chassis.

Generally speaking, the invention provides for receiving pages from a stack of sheets in an input feeder (ASF), for roller driven movement along a first path through a printing station to an output, and for receiving pages from a stack of documents in an input feeder (ADF) and for roller driven movement along a second path through a scanning station to an output. Depending on a particular implementation, at least a portion of the first and second paths are shared and the common mechanism is used at least in part for various steps, for example, for receiving and providing roller driven movement through the processing stations.

Referring in particular to Figures 1-2, the multifunction device of the [presently preferred embodiment] includes a frame 20 for housing a scanning station 22 and a printer station 24. A stack of print sheets may be loaded into an automatic sheet feeder (ASF) 26 and a stack of documents/graphics to be scanned may be loaded into an automatic document feeder (ADF) 28, which together share a common input feeder tray. 30 with a pick-up roller 32 and a spring-loaded scraper block 33 at the lower end. The upper portion of the input feeder tray, which constitutes the ADF, is separated from the ASF by a divider 35. The divider is cut off at its lower end to allow the document stacks and the sheet stacks to converge at the pick-up roller (see Figs. 8-10). A pressure plate 34 is attached to the frame at its upper end by a pivot pin 36 and is normally biased upwardly against the pick-up roller by springs 38. A drive motor 40 is connected to the pressure plate 34 and the pick-up roller 32 by a gear mechanism, as will be described in more detail hereinafter, and is further connected to a main drive roller 42 which pulls the pages through the processing stations for either scanning or printing. The printed pages as well as the scanned pages pass over an output roller 43 to be deposited in a common output area 44.

The scanning and printing stations in the drawings are for illustrative purposes only and are of conventional design except for their unique arrangement along the shared path using the shared mechanisms. In this regard, the scanning station 22 includes a lamp 46 for illuminating a scanning zone, reflective mirrors 48, 50, a lens 49 and a charge-coupled device (CCD) photosensor 51. The printing station 24 includes an ink jet cartridge 52 which rides on a slide bar 54 across a printing zone.

In the alternative embodiment of Figs. 11-12, the shared document/sheet path and mechanisms are similar to Figs. 1-2 and include a scanning station 22a, a printer station 24, a drive motor 40, a main drive roller 42, an output roller 43, and a shared output 44, with document pages actively advancing through the scanning station and passively through the printer station and print sheet pages bypassing the scanning station and actively advancing through the printer station, both to a shared output. However, the ADF 60 has its own pivotally mounted, spring loaded pressure plate 62 to enable reliable page feeding to the document pickup roller 63, and the ASF 64 has its own pivotally mounted, spring loaded pressure plate 66 to enable reliable sheet page feeding to the sheet page pickup roller 67, both pickup rollers 65, 67 being driven by the drive motor 40.

In the alternative embodiment of Fig. 13, the common document/sheet path and shared mechanisms are similar to Figs. 11-12. However, this alternative embodiment (Fig. 13) provides a common path through a combined scanning printer station 68 to a common output 44 with separate pick-up rollers 65, 67 and separate platens 62a, 66a driven by the drive motor 40 for the main drive roller system.

In Figs. 3 to 6, which show further details of the preferred embodiment of Figs. 1-2, the input feeder tray is so integrated into the device that when the unit rests on its feet 69 on a desk surface, stacks of sheets or documents can be added without having to remove any tray. Since the frame is supported by legs 71 so that the input feeder tray is angled downward, both stacks will naturally settle on the bottom of the tray so that the leading edges of the pages at the top of the stacks will abut against the pick-up roller (see Figs. 8-10). The action of the pressure plate against both stacks ensures proper separation by the spring-loaded stripper block 33 in combination with the rotation of the pick-up roller 32.

The ADF includes an extension 70 attached to the upper end of the divider 35, which rotates forward out of the way as pages are added to or removed from the ASF. The ASF is inserted between the ADF and the bottom of the feeder tray and includes its own extension 72 as well as a single adjustable guide 74 to maintain the stack of sheets in proper positioning for feeding into the pick-up roll.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that properly feeding/picking up the pages from a large stack of pristine printing paper into the ASF is a somewhat easier task than properly feeding/picking up various sized, partially curved pages of stacked documents with text or graphics thereon into the ADF. Therefore, the ADF is positioned above the ASF for better picking by the pick-up roller and easier access for accurate and proper loading between dual-adjustable guides 76. The automatic action of the pressure plate 34 also helps to ensure proper feeding of pages from the ASF for printing or pages from the ADF for scanning, as will be described in more detail hereinafter.

The pick-up roller 32 is mounted on a take-up shaft 78 which has a pair of guide rollers 80 also mounted thereon in the shared paper path, as well as a dual pinch delay coupler 81 mounted on the shaft ends outside the frame. The guide rollers 80 and matching pinch rollers 82 help to hold the pages in proper position as they move past the pick-up roller to the scanning station and the printing station.

A unique gear mechanism is shown in Figures 3 and 6-7 for automatically moving the platen toward and away from between a released position, an "open" position, and an engaged position, a "closed" position. The released, open position allows access to the stacks for removal, refilling, or replacing pages, as well as for realigning the stacks between one or more page pickup events if deemed desirable or necessary to avoid misfeeds. More importantly from a multi-function standpoint (see Figures 8-10), the released, open position allows new pages of the document to be placed into the ADF with their leading edges resting on the top of the stack of sheets in the ASF, thereby preparing for a scanning operation to begin.

The interlocking closed position holds the stack of sheets together in an aligned position as a unit when there are no documents in the ADF. This helps prevent more than one page from being picked up accidentally. The interlocking closed position holds the stack of documents together in an aligned position as a unit when there are no sheets in the ASF. If there is already a stack of sheets in the ASF and some additional document pages need to be added to the ADF, the interlocking closed position holds both the stack of documents and the stack of sheets underneath together as a composite stack in an aligned position as far as their leading edges are concerned.

Fig. 6 shows the gear mechanism in a "start released" position with the motor drive gear 84 moving in a reverse direction to cause the main drive roller 42 to also run in reverse. A coupling pin 85 on a connecting gear 104 is located midway between a forward direction coupling pin 87 and a reverse direction coupling pin 89 on the delay coupler 81. This ensures that the start of the reverse drive of the pick-up roller to eject partially picked pages does not begin until the platen has been moved to a released position.

A cam follower 86 rests in a notch on a cam 88 which is rigidly mounted for rotation with the pressure plate gear 90. As long as the cam follower 86 remains in the notch, the pressure plate remains in a closed, intermeshed position. The connection between the cam follower 86 and the pressure plate is best shown in Fig. 7. The cam follower 86 is mounted on the end of a torsion bar 92 which is mounted for rotation by a pair of brackets 94 and a counter bracket 96. A pair of fingers 98 are also mounted on the torsion bar 92 and connected to matching slots so that when the pressure plate gear 90 is rotated in a direction 100, the cam follower is forced to rotate upward to the "released position" and ride along the larger diameter surface 102. This rotates the entire torque rod 92 and causes the fingers 90 to rotate the pressure plate in a direction 103 to a fully retracted position of disengagement in a direction away from the take-up roller 32. When the pressure plate 90 has made one complete rotation, the cam follower rides back down into the notch, allowing the pressure plate to return to an "intermeshed position".

A linkage gear 104 is slidably mounted on the take-up shaft 78 to couple the drive motor 40 to the pressure plate gear 90 and further to couple the drive motor 40 to the take-up roller through the double pin delay coupler 81. When the motor drive gear 84 is in reverse, the linkage gear rotates in a direction 105 to move its attached transfer gear 106 into an interlocking position with the pressure plate gear 86. Thus, coupling of the drive motor 40 to the platen gear is accomplished through a double gear 108, a main drive gear 42, spur gears 110, 112, the connecting gear 104 and the transfer gear 106. Decoupling occurs when the motor drive gear 84 changes from reverse to forward as this changes the direction of rotation of the connecting gear 104 and moves the transfer gear 106 in the direction 114 to a non-connection position 116. The previous gear/cam mechanism provides automatic movement of the platen between a position of stack engagement with the pickup roller and a position of disengagement. This necessarily occurs after a page processed at the scanning station or the printing station has passed the main drive roller. 42 and the output roller 43 to the common output area 44. The initiation of the release can be programmed to take place at predetermined times, for example before each pickup step, or whenever a misfeed or the like occurs. When a document page is placed in the ADF, it further depresses a sensor 118 to activate the above-mentioned release sequence of steps.

As best shown in Figure 6, the delayed contact of the pin 85 on the connecting gear 104 with the dual pin delay coupler 81 causes the pickup roller to reverse, thereby ejecting any pages from a previously occurred pickup step after the platen has been moved to a released position.

As best shown in Figure 6, the gear mechanism is designed to automatically provide a delay between the picking up of successive pages from the sheet stack or the document stack. In this regard, the transmission ratios cause the output roller 43 to rotate faster than the main drive roller 32, which rotates faster than the pick-up roller 32. The speed differential between the output roller 43 and the main drive roller 42 holds a page in tension as it passes through the print station, the scan station, or the combined print/scan station.

The link gear 104 has its single pin 85 which engages one or the other of the two pins 87, 89 on the delay coupler 81 (depending on the direction of the main drive) to drive the pickup roller forward or backward with a partial revolution delay to drive the pickup roller when a change of direction occurs. This relationship between the link gear 104 and the delay coupler 81, when combined with the speed differential between the pickup roller 32 and the main drive roller 42, causes the pin on the link gear 104 to move away from engaging the pin on the delay coupler as long as one side is in driving interaction with both the pickup roller and the main drive roller. In other words, the take-up roller is enslaved to the paper during the double drive period and rotates faster than the connecting gear to cause the aforementioned "walk-away".

When the trailing edge of the page finally leaves the pick-up roll, the pick-up roll shaft and the delay coupler mounted thereon stops, and the time it takes for the pin on the link gear to rotate into interaction with the pin on the delay coupler is the "delay time" that occurs between picking successive pages from the stack.

Thus, the foregoing features of the invention provide for automatic operation of a printing station, scanning station or the like having a single drive motor by means of a gear mechanism that provides for spaced picking of successive pages from an input feed stack. These foregoing features also provide for the sharing of a paper path and mechanisms involved along the path of a multifunction device to perform the operations of, for example, printing, scanning or the like in the same device.

Fig. 14 illustrates the curling of a document 200 after the document has been fed from a document feeder 201 past a scanning station 202, including a scanner 202, under the common paper and document path where it has been scanned, and passively across a printing station 203 (without a print cartridge having slipped out of the printing zone), where the document was intended to be fed into a nip 204 between the output rollers 205 and 206. Once a curled document leaves the scanning station and enters the printing region, it is free to return to its natural curled state. Due to the curling of the document at 200a, the document is in an initial position to cause a paper jam before it reaches the nip 204. The location of the scanner below the common path (as opposed to the embodiment of Figures 1 and 11 which show the scanner above the common path) allows the use of the single output stacking tray in which the non-printed sides of the printed media are in a face-to-face abutment position in the output tray.

Fig. 15 shows the addition of a document guide 210 which, in a lowered position, deflects an incoming document 200 by forcing it under the deflection guide by a roller 216. The leading edge of a curled or damaged or deformed document (or the uncurled leading edge if the document is smooth) is deflected by a substantially smooth-sided bottom surface 217 of the document guide and thus the leading edge 200b of the document is guided into the nip 204. A strip 219 depends from near the distal end of the guide 210 and rides on an edge of the printing station platen 203a (Fig. 16) and acts as a downward stop of the document guide 210. The document guide comprises a first long section 213 which in the scanning mode is in a parallel position to the printing station platen and in a position to guide a document (curled or uncurled) into the nip 204, an integral short section 211 and a pivot 212. An arrow 220 in Fig. 17 indicates the document feed direction. The documents are constrained on their upper surface by the bottom surface 217 in the document guide and on their lower surface by the printing station platen.

The sheets to be printed on are clean, untouched sheets with no curl, and there is thus no need to guide or constrain the printing sheets to the common output nip. Sensors (not shown) in the document tray 201 and in the sheet feed path 199 indicate whether a document is to be scanned or a sheet is to be printed. Rollers 218 are provided as part of a wet paper stacker (not shown) which acts to constrain the edges of the printed sheets upward, thereby causing sheet stiffness so that the sheet falls more accurately into a bin to allow greater drying time for the previous sheet.

As seen in Figs. 15 and 16, a mechanism is provided for rotating and lowering the document guide clockwise by about 100° to 110° for a scan mode operation after a print mode operation has been completed with the print cartridge pushed away from the print station or zone. Thereafter, a coil spring 239 having an end 239a attached to a pivot plate 236 and wound around the hinge which has been spring loaded by the rotational movement, by means of the spring bias, guides the document guide 210 back to a raised position shown in Fig. 15. This is necessary to enable the print cartridge 230 (Fig. 16) to be moved into close proximity with the sheet of paper. The document guide is pivotally movable about the hinge 212 which provides a center of rotation. The actuation is provided by a connection 215 between the document guide and the print cartridge capping and wiping system 240 (Figs. 16 and 17). The invention uses a dwell state in the capping function in which the capping and wiping system motor 241 continues to rotate after the print cartridge has been capped. This extra movement is connected to a gear shaft 231 (Fig. 16) with the connection 215 and lasts just long enough to raise the document guide when the capping system motor rotates in one direction or lower it when it rotates in the other direction.

The linkage 215 includes a drive shaft 232 which rotates a lever arm 233 containing an offset ball crank 234 from the position shown in Fig. 16 to the position shown in Fig. 15 by moving a push rod 235 having a forked end 237 which presses on a fixed pin 238 on a pivot plate 236, the end of which rotates the pivot plate 236 which is fixedly connected to the document guide 210 clockwise to rotate the document guide counterclockwise (as viewed in Fig. 16) to its raised position in Fig. 16, thereby allowing the print cartridge 230 (Fig. 16) to be moved laterally into the print station 203.

Figure 18 illustrates a common media chassis 300 with spaced projections 330 extending parallel to the chassis' longitudinal axis 302 for supporting the end covers (not shown) of a printer housing (also not shown). Hooks 303a form snap-in features that hold the media chassis assembly to a sheet metal chassis (not shown) in front of the entire printer. The bottoms of ledges 303 support the ADF (Figure 3), with the ADF slidingly inserted into the chassis along a surface 332 between the chassis end walls 304, 305, allowing engagement and disengagement of the feeders. The ledges 305a are deflection members which fit into matching holes in the sheet metal chassis and do not contact the holes unless the printer is accidentally dropped, and the ledges 305a then provide additional support to absorb the impact. A chassis opening 306 provides visual access for a sensor, for example an optical tray break sensor available as model number GPIA75E from Sharp Co. of Japan, for detecting the presence of paper on a surface 307 of the chassis. A rectangular opening 308 allows access of a paper picker 503 (Fig. 19-20) to move a sheet of paper or document into the feed mechanism. A tray 309 and opening 310 mount and support the scanning station chassis which is located below the common path. A gear train 550 (Fig. 21) is supported on an outside surface of the wall 304 on gear stub shafts 312, 313, 314, 315 and 316. A tray 333a supports the ADF and ASF trays (Fig. 3). A pin door with end pins (not shown) is supported by apertured tabs 326 extending from the upper rear corners of the media chassis 300. Slots 309 and apertures 310 act as attachment points for a snap-in connection of the scanner 202a.

Round bosses 321 and 322 contain an opening for fastening a plastic gear housing plate 323 (Fig. 20) by means of screws 324.

Plate 323 further functions to receive the outer ends of the gear shafts of gears 511, 510, 508, 507, an idler 506 and an idler 504 (progressively from top left to bottom right on the media chassis of Figure 21). Integral stubs 327 and 328 function as bearing surfaces for the gear shafts of gears 511 and 513, respectively. Slots 329 are recessed to hide a screw head of the ADF when the ADF is inserted into the chassis. Round bosses (screw holes) 330 serve as support for the end covers. A counterbore 331 is included in the walls 304, 305 to maintain the same wall thickness throughout and to provide a guide ramp for the ADF so that it can be easily and reliably assembled into its reference feature bar 303. One section includes an opening 328a for the gear shaft of the gear 513, which shaft extends to be the shaft of the rotatable ASF pickup roller 500 (Fig. 20) installed transversely to the walls 304; 305. A prescan drive member 501 (Fig. 20) with a flag edge sensor 502 for sensing paper edges is rotatably mounted on the shaft extending from the gearbox 507 and further extending between the walls 304, 305. An ADF pickup roller 503, attached to the gearbox 511 by means of the shaft 504 extending from the wall 304 through a pair of pinions 340 extending from the rear surface 307, accesses a document through an opening 308 in the media chassis. The surface 304 forms a plate with a longitudinal edge 307a spaced inwardly from and parallel to the deflector leading edge. An ASF deflector 510 (Fig. 20) with integral pins is attached to the walls 304, 305. Apertures 334 of the media chassis support the pre-scan roller. The deflector has opposing longitudinal edges 511 that extend above and between the pre-scan drive member 501 and its rollers 501a. Slots 333 and apertures 334a support the deflector. A thin pre-scan paper guide 515 extends above the ASF deflector 510, with notches 515a thereof gripping the rollers 501a of the pre-scan drive member 501. A pre-scan scrim 522, consisting of the gear 507, a spring and a hub (Fig. 20), acts to impart only forward motion to the pre-scan roller. A sensor 513 having an interrupt slot 513a, an ADF flag 519 which, when a paper hits a lever arm, rotates a plug 513b into the slot 513a, and a cable 519a, all located in the housing 517, function to provide a document presence sensing.

As seen in Fig. 21, a magnetic actuator 516 acts to rotate a stop stop 515 and consequently against a pivot arm 514.

The media chassis gear operates to communicate power to the automatic document feeder (ADF) or, alternatively, to the automatic sheet feeder (ASF). As seen in Figure 21, sheet picking is accomplished by rotating the motor pinion 541 in a counterclockwise (ccw) direction by a motor (not shown). This allows drive power and control to be transferred from the gear 541 to the gear 510 through the gears 542, 543, 504-509. The gear 510 applies a force to the gear 512, causing the gear 512 to rotate clockwise. The gear 512 is axially loaded against the pivot arm 514, which results in a frictional torque load as it is rotated. As the gearbox 512 is rotated clockwise, a net torque is applied to the pivot arm assembly 514. The pivot arm assembly rotates counterclockwise until it stops against the pivot arm stop 517 in a position to allow the gearbox 512 to engage the ASF gearbox 513. Continued counterclockwise rotation of the motor results in rotation of the sheet feeder gearbox and pick-up shaft, thereby enabling the picking of a sheet from the sheet feeder. The rotation of the ASF pick-up shaft is continued for a predetermined distance to insure that the picked sheet has been stopped by the nip of the pre-scan roller 501a (Fig. 20) attached to the gearbox 507. Next, the motor pinion 541 rotates clockwise, causing the pre-scan roller to pick up a sheet and advance it down the paper path for printing. At the same time, the forward direction of the motor causes the swing arm 514 to move clockwise until it is stopped by the stop swing arm 514a. The stop swing holds the swing arm and thus the gear 512 in a neutral position disengaged from both the ASF gear 513 and the ADF gear 511.

Document feeding is accomplished by first energizing the solenoid actuator 516 to pull its plunger so that the pivot stop 515 is rotated out of engagement with the pivot arm 514. Next, the motor pinion 541 is rotated clockwise. This allows driving force and control to be transmitted from the gear 541 to the gear 510 through the gears 542, 543 and 504-509. The gear 510 applies a force to the gear 512, causing the gear 512 to rotate counterclockwise. The gear 512 is axially opposed to the Pivot arm 514 is loaded, resulting in a frictional torque load as it is rotated. As gear 512 is rotated counterclockwise, a net clockwise torque results on pivot arm assembly 514. The pivot arm assembly rotates clockwise until it stops against pivot arm stop 518 in a position such that gear 512 engages ADF gear 511, which is connected to the ADF pickup shaft. Continued clockwise rotation of motor pinion 541 allows the ADF pickup shaft to pick up a document from the input tray. Rotation of the ADF pickup shaft continues until a paper edge sensor is activated, which ensures that the picked document has moved to the nip of the pre-scan roller attached to gear 507. The solenoid actuator 516 is de-energized, causing its return spring to force the plunger, pivot stop 515, pivot arm 514, and gear 512 to return to a neutral position. Clockwise rotation of the motor pinion 541 continues to move the paper through the paper path for scanning. The next document will not be picked up until the solenoid actuator 516 is re-energized.

While particular embodiments have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and additions to the methods, structures and devices of the inventions can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

Claims (10)

1. Multifunction printer with: a document feeder (28) for holding a stack of documents intended for scanning in a scanning station (22) during a scanning mode of operation; a sheet feeder (26) for holding a stack of sheets intended for printing in a printing station (24) during a printing mode; common path means connected to the document feeder and the sheet feeder for receiving individual document pages and individual sheet pages; common mechanism means for operatively cooperating with the common path means to move the individual document pages past the scanning station to an output (44) and the individual sheet pages past the printing station to the output; wherein the common mechanism means comprises a first pickup (63, 503) for receiving a document page from the document feeder during the scanning mode of operation and a second pickup (67, 500) for receiving a sheet page from the sheet feeder during the printing mode of operation, characterized by a media chassis (300) having a platen (307) for transporting either a document side or a sheet side from the respective feeder and an integral pair of spaced-apart side walls (304, 305) extending from the platen, the first pickup (503) and the second pickup (500) being rotatably mounted on at least one of the side walls. 2. Multifunction printer according to claim 1, characterized by a central opening (308) in the plate, wherein the first receiver (503) comprises a roller, and wherein an edge surface of the roller is positioned so that it extends through the central opening for receiving a document page. 3. Multifunctional printer according to claim 2, characterized in that the first pickup comprises a pickup shaft (504) which is mounted by means of bearing pins in one of the walls (304, 305). 4. Multifunction printer according to claim 1, characterized by a pre-scan drive roller (501, 501a) which is rotatably mounted in and between the side walls (304, 305) for moving a document page into the scanning station. 5. A multifunction printer according to claim 4, characterized by a sheet deflector (510) fixedly mounted on and between the walls, the deflector having a leading edge (511) positioned above the pre-scan drive roller, and the plate having a longitudinal edge (307a) formed parallel to and spaced from the leading edge of the deflector. 6. Multifunction printer according to claim 1, characterized by a gear train (542-543, 504-510) with a series of gears (542-543, 504) on an outer surface of one of the side walls; a motor with a pinion (541) for rotating the gear train; a pivot arm (514) rotatable by means of one of the series of gears; a swing arm stopper fixed to the media chassis; wherein a second gear (513) engages when the swing arm stops engaging the stopper, and wherein continued rotation of the motor pinion rotates the second pickup (500) which picks up a sheet side from the sheet feeder. 7. A multifunction printer according to claim 6, characterized by a pre-scan roller (510, 501a) extending between the side walls, the continuous rotation being counterclockwise and continuing at a predetermined amount until stopped by a tip of the pre-scan roller. 8. Multifunction printer according to claim 7, characterized by an actuator (516) for rotating the stopper (517) out of engagement with the pivot arm, wherein the one gear engages with a third gear (513) which is connected to the first pickup for rotating the first pickup for receiving a document page from the document feeder, and wherein the motor pinion (541) continues to rotate upon release of the actuator energization to move a sheet side along the common path means to the scanning station. 9. Multifunction printer according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by a scanning station (202a), a printing station (203) and individual output stackers for receiving printed pages and scanned documents in different ways, the scanning station (202a) being located below the common path means, the printing station (203) being located below the common path means and a print cartridge (230) being movably arranged above the printing station so that an unscanned page of a scanned document exits the stacker with the unscanned side upwards and an unprinted side of a printed page is opposite the unscanned side of the scanned document page when the printed page next exits the stacker. 10. Multifunction printer with: a document feeder (201) for holding a stack of documents intended for scanning in a scanning station (202a) during a scanning mode of operation; a sheet feeder for holding a stack of sheets intended for printing in a printing station (203) during a printing mode; common path means connected to the document feeder and the sheet feeder for receiving individual document pages and individual sheet pages; a scanning station (202a) and a printing station (203); common mechanism means for operably interacting with the common path means to move the individual document pages past the scanning station to an output stacker and to move the individual sheet pages past the printing station to the output stacker; wherein the common mechanism means comprises a first pickup (503) for picking up a document page from the document feeder during scanning mode and a second pickup (500) for picking up a sheet side from the sheet feeder during the printing mode; wherein the scanning station (202a) is disposed below the common path means, the printing station (203) is disposed below the common path means, and a print cartridge (230) is movably positioned above the printing station such that an unscanned side of a scanned document exits the stacker with the unscanned side facing upward and an unprinted side of a print page is opposite the unscanned side of the scanned document page when the print page next exits the stacker.